Apples and Honey Make the Year Sweet!

Posted in Baking/Cooking by R @ Learning As I Chop on September 10, 2010

Not the most photogenic loaf I've baked...

Happy New Year to all! For those who don’t know, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year. In honor of this special day, Jews eat all kinds of special things, including honey to begin the year with sweetness! Kind of similar to how many Americans eat black eyed peas on January 1st. It’s auspicious. My mother always makes a honey loaf on the New Year, so I thought I’d try one myself.

At first I looked to my usual J of C for a recipe but theirs included coffee. H doesn’t drink any caffeine so that was nixed. Then I turned to my back-up – Epicurious – and decided on this one:

I found this mix to be especially exciting since it called for some of my favorite Fall spices- ground cloves, ginger and cinnamon. Smelled so good, smelled like home. This recipe also called for 1/2 cup boiling water. I included it but have no idea what it adds to the batter. Do you know?

70 minutes and the loaf was done. Some kind of weird puff popped up in the middle, but I I didn’t care. We’re not going for any beauty contests here. This was more about tradition than baking perfection.

We started dinner with a slice of the honey loaf and some apples dipped in honey. The cake was very tasty but a teensy bit dry. I’m not sure if it’s because I left it uncovered for about 2 hours or there’s a flaw in the recipe. Next year I might add a little bit of applesauce for moisture. A trick I discovered while baking these treats. H suggested a slice would be perfect for breakfast, topped with a nice pad of butter. I’m thinking he’s on to something there….